As with any new endeavour, you’re bound to make mistakes. After all, we supposedly learn from our mistakes. But what if you don’t have the budget or time to balls it up? Well, we’ve compiled a list of ten mistakes every cannabis-growing newbie makes.
Wrong Cannabis Growing Medium
While everyone says marijuana is called weed because it’s easy to grow, take a step back, loosen up your slapping hand and smack that uneducated fool. Cannabis requires excellent growing medium to thrive.
In our store, we stock Freedom Farms’ growing soil, which is specially formulated to ensure your plant stays healthy and reaches its full growth potential!
Reacting To Fungus, Pests, And Mould
Most would say looking after plants is a relaxing and chilled hobby – but that doesn’t mean you can ignore them. They need to be monitored every day for pests and other pathogens!
This is especially true when your cannabis develops a fungus or mould. If it’s not spotted quickly and treated with a Margaret Roberts product, you can call it a day, chop down the plant, and start from the beginning.
Wrong Cannabis Lighting!
This goes for outdoor and indoor growers. Outdoor newbs often plant cannabis in a shady spot. Remember; sun-loving plant. You can read more about the perfect outdoor lighting, here, in another Zootly blog!
Now for indoor lighting. The biggest mistake people used to make was positioning the lighting too close to the plants. With old school high-beam lights, this positioning can burn some of the crops, but with our California Lightworks Units, fitted with LED lights, this is unlikely. Also, these rigs come with a pretty detailed instruction manual. So, it’s cannabis newbie-proof.
Start with Quality Cannabis Seeds!
If you’re really green in this field, you won’t know there’s a massive difference in quality when it comes to cannabis seeds.
While you can get gifted some seeds from a friend, you don’t know if you’re wasting your time growing a male. When you go through proper channels you get access to feminised seeds, which guarantees you’re not gambling with resources. A local distributor would be President Seeds. You can visit their website for more details.
Cannabis Problems Occur At The Root
Like any other plant, if you have issues with your roots you’ve got problems. With cannabis, it’s mostly an issue of lack of space! Marijuana loves to stretch its roots.
There’s The Perfect Temperature
Just like Goldielocks and the Three Bears, there are temperatures that are too hot or too cold for cannabis. High humidity of 60% or more (looking at you, Durban), can ruin the flowering stages as it tends to stunt growth.
You also don’t want your plants to have cold feet. The pot you’ve planted your cannabis in shouldn’t drop below 12°C at night, when the plant is busy with its metabolic process.
Make sure to place your plants on a surface that’s not going to transfer cold.
Over Watering Cannabis
As with any plant, there is the potential of overwatering. It should go without saying that we all get a little attached to our plants and smother them in love, AKA water. Don’t do it. Your plant might need some water every second day, and the soil it is in should have good drainage, so, no build-up/damming up of water in the pot.
Overfeeding Cannabis
Just like your mama cooking you dinner, overfeeding your cannabis is a thing, especially with nutrients, which you can easily overdo. The leaves on your plant will start to curl if you do go overboard. You can correct this by draining the plant with water.
If you think you can’t overdose with organic fertilisers, you can. Follow the instructions to avoid this.
Cannabis Growing Is About Timing
Like any good joke, growing your cannabis is all about timing. You can easily harvest too early or plant a seed too late. While we understand that you’re skipping with joy, looking at that beautiful bud, it’s important to follow the timings as closely as possible.
Remember Something Someone Once Said
We are all familiar with the idea of #FakeNews. The same is true of stories you’ve heard about growing weed, there are a lot of unsubstantiated claims.
Always take the time and double-check facts. If you’re reading this blog, we’re pretty sure you’re on the right track.
If you’ve read the above you should be ready to avoid some beginner growing errors. Now, here comes the fun part, encountering expert problems! WHEEE! As we said right up front, we learn by making mistakes, even the professionals do it.
Zootly Says, “I once heard that owl poop is great for growing cannabis… Want some? #FakeOwlNews”
Words By: Andrew Macfarlane, writer and budding horticulturist who’s made mistakes.
